Pakistan says FATF decision ‘politically motivated’ as watchdog retains it on grey list

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s finance chief Shaukat Tarin said on Saturday the recent decision by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) to retain his country on its “grey list” was made “under the influence of some powerful nations,” though he also hoped Pakistan would exit the list during this year.
Pakistan was placed on the grey list of countries by the global financial watchdog in 2018 for inadequate terror funding and money laundering controls. In June last year, FATF President Marcus Pleyer said Islamabad had made “significant progress” but there remained “serious deficiencies” in mechanisms to plug money laundering and terrorism financing.
The FATF released a statement on Friday after its recent plenary meeting on March 1-4, recognizing Pakistan had taken “swift steps” to strengthen its financial system as recommended by the global body, though it decided not to remove it from the list of countries of concern.
“We have completed 26 conditions out of 27 of the action plan,” Tarin told an international media outlet during his visit to Dubai. “The FATF decision is politically motivated and it was taken under the influence of some powerful nations to pressurize Pakistan over its strategic policy decisions.”
Officials in Islamabad have frequently accused India of lobbying to retain Pakistan on the FATF grey list.
Despite its skepticism, however, Tarin also expressed hope that his country would exit the grey list in the ongoing year since it had almost met all the targets set by the international body.
Last year in June, Pakistan’s foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi also maintained that his country had made substantial progress to strengthen its financial system, adding there was “no justification to keep Pakistan on the grey list” anymore.
“We will have to see if the FATF is a technical forum or ... being used for political purposes,” he had maintained.
The FATF said in its statement on Friday: “Since June 2021, Pakistan has taken swift steps toward improving its AML/CFT [anti-money laundering/combating the financing of terrorism] regime and completed 6 of the 7 action items ahead of any relevant deadlines expiring, including by demonstrating that it is enhancing the impact of sanctions by nominating individuals and entities for UN designation and restraining and confiscating proceeds of crime in line with Pakistan’s risk profile.”
It also urged Islamabad to complete the one remaining action item “by demonstrating a positive and sustained trend of pursuing complex money laundering investigations and prosecutions.”